Cosmic Strings

Today I took a drive from Mt. Hamilton to Patterson to see what sort of wildlife I could find along the way.
Final tally – 45 species of birds (including, redwinged, bicolored, and tricolored blackbirds; golden and bald eagles),
5 species of mammals (ground squirrel, tule elk, brush rabbit, black-tailed jackrabbit, and mule deer), 4 species of reptiles (western fence lizard, northern pacific rattlesnake, gopher snake, san joachim coachwhip), and lots of wildflowers (including the biggest bloom of clarkia breweri I’ve ever seen).

Now if only all days could be so fun and relaxing.

Spring has sprung again and wildflowers are starting to show up in all their splendor. This has motivated me to not only go out looking for new flowers in the area, but also to organize the photos I have. Thus, I’m updating my web guide to Mt. Hamilton Widlflowers. I’ve learned a lot over the past couple of years and found many more flowers as well as getting more photos.

Well, last weekend the snow was mostly gone and wildflowers were starting to pop up, with bird’s beak being the first to show with its small purple flowers. Monday I saw a few oak violets, Tuesday miner’s lettuce was starting to come up. Thursday showed the first popcorn flower showing their little white flowers.
It looks like it will be a good year for yarrow because I see many plants sprouting, but we are long way from seeing any flowers. I’m sure I’ll see a lot more as spring continues on the trail from my house to my office.

Wildflowers are nearing their peak blooming season here at Lick Observatory. The popcorn flowers, fiddlenecks, owl’s clover, and lupines are everywhere. The california poppies are just starting to appear here at the peak. Though just a few days ago it was snowing up here (it didn’t last long – only about an inch accumulated before it started melting), and tonight it looks like it might
drop to below freezing again. I’m hoping this is the last of the cold weather and that spring will be here to stay after this cold snap.

Two years ago I endeavored to learn about the local wildflowers around Lick Observatory. I headed out with a digital camera and took pictures of every flower I could find while hiking around the mountain and driving down Mount Hamilton Road. Now that some of the spring flowers are starting to bloom I’m going to head out again to see if I can find flowers I’ve never seen before and get better pictures of the ones I have. It never ceases to amaze me how many wildflowers are around here that I’ve never seen before. Anyway, you can see the Mount Hamilton wild flowers I’ve managed to photograph so far (more will surely come sometime in the future). I’ve also added a link to the wild flower pictures that Henry Coe State Park put on line. Many of the flowers are also seen on Mt. Hamilton, but some are only seen at the lower altitudes of Coe Park.

Spring has arrived at the base of the mountain, as signaled by the blooming california poppies. Fields of wildflowers are beckoning me to head out with my camera to capture the beauty. Spring hasn’t quite hit the top of Mount Hamilton yet. Only the sky lupines are starting to bloom at and near the summit. A little further down the hill the mosquito bills and indian warrior are blooming.

Though spring is slowly on its way, we are still in winter and it could snow at any time on Mount Hamilton. The thing I haven’t gotten used to is winter in the Bay Area. I grew up in Connecticut where winter is white and the trees are bare, but in the springtime absolutely everything turns green. Here winter is the rainy season, where the oak trees are devoid of leaves, but the grass is growing and very green. By late spring the rain will have stopped, the trees will have leaves, but the grass will be golden brown. Certainly not like the winters and springs I grew up with.